First of all, I'd like to thank Chris, Ferdinand, Mike, Todd, Kip, and Scott for attending the latest meet. It turned out to be a lot of fun, despite the Audio/Visions set-back. I had a really great time and it was cool to compare different equipment. I can't wait until we have another one!
Here's what occured:
The Sign
The first thing the attendees saw was this sign. This was the original sign that was made for the very first meet that we had, only it was modified to reflect the obvious changes. Why the old sign? Nostalgia, it was the ORIGINAL SIGN!!!
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My Theater
As everyone began to show up, I played some demos. "The Forgotten" trailer, "Resident Evil: The appocalypse" teaser, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" trailer (remake), "Open Range", and "The Haunting" DTS were just a few of the demos.
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When everyone was confirmed as either being there or not able to make it, it was TIME TO EAT!!
George on Hot Dog Detail and my girl, Charlotte was the Hamburger Queen.
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Todd and Charlotte watch the burgers.
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Waiting to eat.
Scott, Kip, Mike, and Ferdinand are patiently waiting to eat. Caesar is trying to be slick and act like one of the guys so he can score some food!
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Chris is about to chow down.
Nice shirt, Chris!!
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Scott going for more.
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After eating, it was time for the screenshot contest. Everyone was given a sheet of paper, numbered 1-25. I put together a VCD of 25 screenshots of 25 different movies. Some shots were gimmes, some were average difficulty. The disc was set to music of me being goofy, Pulp Fiction's opening music, more goofy me, The Running Man opening, 2 Fast 2 Furious briefly, and then it was over. The contest was a lot of fun for everyone and will definitely become a mainstay for future meets. The highlight of the contest? Charlotte accidently blurting out, "Oh, that's Rambo III!" Of course, everyone put that down as the answer for that shot, thus getting it wrong as the shot was from Rambo II!
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Kip Wins!!! Kip Wins!!!
After the answers were known, we ended up with a two-way tie between Mike and Kip. As a faceoff, they had 2 minutes to try and remember all of the answers. After 2 minutes it looked like Kip won with 11 pics recollected to Mike's 10. However, after further inspection, Kip wrote "Final Destination" instead of the sequel as the shot was from the opening car crash. Instead of flipping a coin, we had the guys guess the year of the quarter with Mike being one year off, and Kip nailing it. So after all that, Kip ended up being the winner of the contest. The prize? A $25 gift certificate for Best Buy.
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Time to demo some different equipment.
First, Mike demonstated his Benq 6200. It definitely puts out more lumens than my X1, especially with my Silver Star screen. It was still daylight out and we opened the front door to see what would happen to the picture. Surprisingly, the picture didn't take a noticeable hit as we watched a scene from Finding Nemo. With my X1, you open the door, the picture goes away. However, with the room darkened, the 6200 seemed a little too bright with the Silver Star because of the way the black level suffered. Keep in mind, though, that it wasn't ceiling mounted, and it was only briefly calibrated using the THX optimizer. I'm sure the picture could have been tamed if we would have taken the time. The only problem really evident was during dark scenes. Like the opening of Star Trek VI. But, Finding Nemo and It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World looked really good. Also, we played a little bit of X-Box and it looked spectacular. The higher resolution, compared to my X1 really showed here.
Overall, the 6200 is a really nice projector and it was Mike's first time seeing a progressive scan DVD player on it, which was a good thing. It might be better suited to a different screen, but I'd like more time with it to come to a final conclusion.
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Scott demonstrates his Benq 8700 using the DVI output of his Bravo D1.
This projector looked really good. The 1280 X 720 resolution was nice to have when watching our demo clips. We didn't get to see any HD material, but the lack of screendoor was really nice. I don't see it too much anyway with my X1 and I didn't see it with the 6200 either, but the extra resolution was evident with printed words and also some of the detail from our clips. One key scene was Resident Evil, in the opening when the camera pans by the dog cages, the detail of that scene was really nice. The black level was excellent and the picture had definite uniform brightness. Also, with the 8700 being a 16 X 9 machine there weren't bars above and below my screen like I get with my 4:3 native X1.
I liked both projectors and I'd also like to point out that I really hate Mike and Scott for making me want to spend more $$$$$!!!!!! Thanks guys!
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The Group
Pictured from left to right: Scott, Kip, Todd, Chris, Ferdinand, and Mike
In front: ME!
Behind the camera: Charlotte
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Once again, I'd like to thank everyone for coming to the meet as it was a lot of fun. It was a great way to meet some new guys, and just plain hang out with fellow HT enthusiasts. I can't wait until the next one!!!
A special thanks goes out to my love, Charlotte who put up with a lot of loud demos, and especially for cooking for all of us. She had a good time as well, which is cool!
